Roofing medium



N. THOMPSON ROOFING MEDIUM July 30, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb.

INvEN-roQ /VaMn/y THOMPSON ATTOQNEY July 30, 1968 N THoMPsoN ROOFING MEDIUM 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 5. 1964 ATTORNEY July 30, 1968 N. THOMPSON 3,394,506

RQOFING MEDIUM Filed Feb. 5, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 TTORMY.

United States Patent C Claims priority, application Great Britain, Feb. 7, 1963, i

4,963/ 63 4 Claims. (Cl. 52-13) This invention relates to a roofing medium and is concerned more particularly with a roofing medium for the roofing of flat roofs or roofs having a low degree of slope.

It is a common expedient for flat roof constructions to use timber joists overlaid by boarding, or pre-cast or castin-situ concrete, or a form of trough shaped decking, all of which have to be covered by a waterproof composition material. Flat roofs constructed in the foregoing manner are however usually subject to the disadvantage that it is diiiicult or expensive to ensure absolute weatherproofness of the roof and to provide satisfactory drainage for storm water and diflicult also to provide adequate strength without using a heavy and expensive form of construction.

Now according to the present invention a roofing panel comprises a sheet of material formed with upward projections or protuberances spaced apart in twol directions at right angles, so as to form a trough runnlng 1n one direction across the sheet, and a number of valleys slopo ing downwards towards the trough and running in directions substantially perpendicular to the trough.

In one preferred form the trough has a straight bottom, and 4can lie flat on a horizontal plane surface.

Preferably a protuberance is formed at each corner, providing two opposed valleys which meet at the centre of the panel, and a trough extending at right angles theret0.

According to a preferred feature of the invention the edges of the panel are provided with channel formations, to overlap and fit against corresponding channel formations on an adjacent panel. Y

The invention further resides in a roofing structure 1ncluding a number of panels as defined above, arranged in overlapping relationship to form a complete rooting surface having continuous troughs extending in one dlrection, and intersecting valleys extending at right angles to the troughs.

The invention may be performed in various ways and some specific embodiments will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a shaped Square sheet roofing panel according to the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a plan view thereof, showing imaginary contour lines,

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of the same panel in the direction of arrow Ain FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 4 is an end elevation of the panel in the direction of arrow B in FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 5 is a plan View on an enlarged scale, showing the means for joining four adjacent corners of four rooting panels, as previously described,

FIGURE 6 is a sectional elevation through the jointing means of FIGURE 5,

FIGURE 7 is a sectional side elevation on an enlarged scale through two adjacent panels, showing the overlapping edge formations thereof,

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary end elevation showing a cradle for supporting one of the shaped sheet panels on a roof structure, and

FIGURE 9 is a plan view of a composite roof struc- 3,394,506 Patented liuly 30, 1968 ICE ture including a number of roofing panels arranged edge to edge.

The panel illustrated in FIGURES l to 4 is specifically intended for roofing dat roofs, or roofs having a low degree of slope, and consists of a square sheet formed by pressing from sheet aluminium and provided at each corner with a raised portion or protuberance 10 in the form of a quarter-conoid. The curved surfaces of the protuberances slope downwards towards each other both laterally and longitudinally, with the peaks located at the extreme corners of the sheet. The curved surfaces of the protuberances are arranged to form downwardly sloping oppositely disposed valleys 11 which meet at the centre of the sheet whilst in a direction at right angles to the valleys the Vcurved surfaces descend into a relatively deep and broad trough 12 of uniform width. It will be noted that the highest parts 13 of the valleys are considerably above the level of the trough 12. Thus storm water falling on the surface of the sheet when in situ results in the water iiowing by way of the valleys 11 downwardly into the common central trough 12. Depending upon whether the sheet is horizontal or inclined, the water will then flow away from both ends, or from one end of the trough.

For some purposes a single sheet of large dimensions will be adequate to cover the whole roof area, but it is contemplated that for most purposes a number of such panels will be joined to form the complete rooting surface. For this purpose the edges of the sheets are designed to overlap one another to form waterproof joints, some sheet edges being specifically intended to act as Oversheets, and others as undersheets As best seen in FIGURE 7 the marginal portions of the sheets which are to be oversheets are provided with four parallel convex channels 15, 16, 17, 18, arranged in two pairs spaced apart by a shallow arched bridge strip 19. The marginal portions of the sheets which are to be undersheets are formed with four channels 20, 21, 22, 23, arranged in two pairs of channels which are joined by a shallow arched bridge strip 24, the outermost and innermost channels 20, 23 being convex and the adjoining channels 21, 22 concave. The bridges 19 of the oversheets are provided at spaced intervals with holes for the passage of the Shanks of self tapping screws 25 whilst the bridges 24 of the undersheets are formed at corresponding locations with depending funnel shaped protuberances 26 the inner surfaces of which are bitten int-o by the threads of the self tapping screws.

The marginal portions of the sheets are adapted to be fitted in an overlapping relationship with the convex channels 20, 23` of the undersheets fitting Within the convex channels 15, 18 `of the oversheets and with the adjoining convex channels 16, 17 of the oversheets in opposed relationship to the concave channels 21, 22 of the undersheets and with the bridge strips 19, 24 of the respective sheets in vertical alignment.

A packing or iilling strip 27 of resilient material is interposed between the overlying bridges of the over and undersheets and fills the spaces 28, 29 bounded by the convex channels 16, 17 of the oversheets and the concave channels 21, 22 of the undersheets and becomes compressed to form a weather-proof seal when the adjoining sheets are secured together.

In the composite panel assembly the adjacent corners of four adjacent sheets together form the peak of a generally circular symmetrical mound, and this peak is supported by means of a vertical strut 31, as seen in FIG- URES 5 and 6, which has an upstanding spigot 32 passing between the corners of the sheets and receiving a screwthreaded cap 33. The corners of the sheets are gripped between upper and lower sealing members 34, 35 and an intervening resilient sealing element 36 is contained in a cavity formed between the sheets, to act as a waterproof joint.

As seen in FIGURE 8 the opposed valleys of the sheets are supported in sheet metal cradles 37 which are in turn lixed to the roof members of the structure to be roofed.

The sheets may be rectangular instead of square but in any case the sheets are preferably made in standardized sizes so that buildings can be designed or existing buildings extended in either direction using standard sheets and standard eaves details. The sheets may be made of material other than aluminium for example galvanised mild steel sheet, synthetic plastics material either opaque, translucent or transparent, or of compositions such as moulded sheets of resin-bonded fiberglass.

FIGURE '9 illustrates a plan view of a composite roof structure including four rooting panels as previously described arranged edge to edge, so as to provide a continuous central trough with valleys on opposite sides thereof.

I claim:

1. A roong structure comprising a plurality of rooling panels each formed from a sheet of material of a nonat contour and having a trough having a substantially straight bottom running in one direction across the panel, and a number of valleys sloping downwards towards the trough and running in a direction substantially perpendicular to that of the trough, the panels being arranged in overlapping relationship to form a complete rooting surface with the troughs of a plurality of said panels being in alignment with each other and extending in one direction.

2. A rooting structure according to claim 1 and having pairs of upper and lower sealing members, each pair being disposed at adjacent corners of different panels with the corresponding lower sealing member positioned beneath the lowermost corner and the upper sealing member positioned on top of the uppermost corner, and clamping means provided to clamp said upper and lower sealing member together, whereby said adjacent corners of different panels are sealed together.

3. A roofing structure according to claim 1, and two spaced parallel pairs of channels extending along each edge of each panel, and a bridge portion spanning said pairs, the innermost and outermost channels of one edge of one panel mating respectively with the outermost and innermost channels of an adjacent edge of another panel, and the remaining channels and bridge portion of said one edge complementing the remaining channels and bridge portion of said adjacent edge to provide a shaped cavity therebetween, the structure further comprising shaped sealing strips accommodated in said cavities.

4. A roong structure according to claim 3 and including cradles for supporting the respective panels, and means for securing the cradles to the structure to be roofed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,057,819 11/1934 Corcoron et al 52-519 2,928,360 10/1956 Heine 52-80 3,090,162 2/1953 Baroni 52-13 3,091,817 6/1958 Dosker 52-391 330,916 11/1885 Northrop 52-521 443,323 12/1890 Kinnear 52-521 496,478 5/1893 Grafton 52-521 669,148 3/1'901 Smith 52-13 774,740 11/ 1904 Darnell 52-534 1,566,415 11/1925 Miller 52-521 2,074,497 3/ 1937 Voight 52-394 2,128,836 S/1938 McVoy 52--537 2,172,270 9/1939 Ansel 52-549 2,923,386 2/1960 Harry 52-394 FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

P. C. FAW, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A ROOFING STRUCTURE COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF ROOFING PANELS EACH FORMED FROM A SHEET OF MATERIAL OF A NONFLAT CONTOUR AND HAVING A TROUGH HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT BOTTOM RUNNING IN ONE DIRECTION ACROSS THE PANEL, AND A NUMBER OF VALLEYS SLOPIND DOWNWARDS TOWARDS THE TROUGH AND RUNNING IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THAT OF THE TROUGH, THE PANELS BEING ARRANGED IN OVERLAPPING RELATIONSHIP TO FORM A COMPLETE ROOFING SURFACE WITH THE TROUGHS OF A PLURALITY OF SAID PANELS BEING IN ALIGNMENT WITH EACH OTHER AND EXTENDING IN ONE DIRECTION. 